So, elections today in Spain. Doesn't look good. Whoever wins is promising more and more cutbacks and I imagine it's only a matter of days before Angela Merkel comes-a-calling! No one has a magic solution but presumably the people will think "a change is as good as a rest", kick out the left-wing (no!!, lost the dictionary) Socialists and install the right-wing PP. Whoever wins, don't look great for Catalunya either as both major parties in Spain are insinuating cutting back on Catalan rights and freedoms. Hopefully, the Catalans themselves will vote for a pro-Catalan party, but it's still a small voice when they go to Madrid.

In a nutshell, Spain is heading for grey, if not black, days and there's no sun on the horizon, which subtly reminded me of this song which I had not listened to since I left England many years ago, as here the concept of Sundays being miserable and grey and boring, well, doesn't apply. Till now.

So, forgetting the Top 40, it looks like we'll have to stick with the usual singer-songwriters to give us some clues about the state of the world. Here's a new one that Billy Bragg himself endorses - Grace Petrie. Two songs today, The revolution will not be televised, and They Shall Not Pass - in homage to those who fought for liberty, and democracy, in Spain and Catalunya. Well-timed, as tomorrow is the anniversary of Franco's death - he died 36 years ago, although Tortosa's council seem not to have realised with their insistence on maintaining his monument in place!!

So, as I've been saying, there was a time when "social message" and "Top 40" could be found in the same hit song. Pet Shop Boys, Simply Red, Depeche Mode, Style Council and so on, all managed to write top 10 hits with some kind of "message". And today? Have a look at the Top 40, and there is nothing. Luckily the "usual suspects", the old classic protesters still churn out the goods but it's not what I've been looking for. Bruce, Neil Young, Billy Bragg, Ry Cooder, all still there - here's Ry, with No Banker Left Behind!

Ok, so many of the protest singers are still doing the rounds, and we can always rely on Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young to come up with the goods, but where are the mainstream teenage orientated bands? Back in the 60s, the two biggest bands out, The Beatles and The Stones, still found time to send out the occasional angry message.

Here's another classic protest song, a real tear-jerker. The Falklands War meant re-opening ship-yards in dying industrial towns of the UK, and as such it meant money and food on the table for many families who were out of work and with few prospects. But, not only would money be coming home, but also the coffins of the young soldiers dying in a useless war. Is it worth it?

Written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer, they offered it to Robert Wyatt to record first.

Ohio, written by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, after the USA National Guard opened fire on a peaceful student demonstration at Ohio University in 1970. The students were protesting the extension of the Vietnam war into Cambodia. Four were killed.

This protest song refers to a specific issue. In the 80s, UK local labour councils, or at least the "radical" ones, had a tendency to publish school material depicting homosexuals as "normal" people (shock, horror!!), and homosexual-parent families as being equal to "traditional" families (what?!). Faced with this major scandal and the possibilities of millions of children being brainwashed to become homosexuals, the Thatcher government had a brainwave and introduced clause 28 as an amendment to one of the local government regulations.

Quoting Wikipedia: The amendment stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship".

So, as you can imagine, many artists were up in arms and produced songs, documentaries, writings in protest. Here's Boy George's contribution - No to clause 28.

So, watching the news it looks like the world's gonna end! Or at least the world based on Money Money Money! Everywhere you look, crisis, bankruptcy, political scandals, added to the usual problems of war, starvation and deadly diseases. It's so bad that we don't even have time to worry about the environmental problems, global warming, sea levels etc.

Over past decades artists have often composed songs reflecting their worries on local and global issues, protest songs. Not just singer-songwriters, but mainstream pop artists used to jump on board the Protest Bus, getting the message out to a mass audience. So, where are they today?

While I search for them, over the next few days we'll post a few classic protest songs from the past .... starting with Phil Ochs' 1960s song, I ain't a-marching anymore.

Squeeze - amazing how great they were, and how quickly they've been forgotten by many. I'm sure most young people today have never heard of them and it's a shame. At the start of the 80s they wrote hit after hit, mainly down to the leading artists Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook. On keyboards they have had Jools Holland and Phil Carrack at different times in their career. Catchy pop music, amusing and original lyrics with many a play on words.

To make up for lost time on this blog, let's have two of their hits today, and another couple tomorrow.

A few weeks back I posted some music and informaction about a new (to me) singer from Mallorca, petit. As with many "unknown" artists, petit is using the digital media to try and get his music out and about, and it's working. More and more music-lovers are picking up on little gems like this through youtubes, facebooks, twitters etc and leaving the mass-media to the dinosaurs like Coldplay or the Rolling Stones. If you like music, I recommend turning off Top of the Pops, and surfing the net ... you'll be surprised!

Anyway, clicking on the previous post, you'll find info about petit, and his newly updated web is here. If you visit (or when you visit), you can choose English as the language :)

This summer petit released the EP Black bird Daisy which can be heard and downloaded legally (for a reasonable price) at this address. And this week, today even, he has released the first video clip - a clip of the title song, Black Bird Daisy. Enjoy this! (and remember that enjoy is a transitive verb!)

As you can imagine Guy Fawkes, and Bonfire Night, is not very well known outside of the UK! It's a very English story and history. However, when Alan Moore wanted a mask for the "hero" of his graphic novel, V for Vendetta, he chose this one. In this novel (pretty much an updated version of Orwell's 1984), the main character, V, also intends to blow up the Houses of Parliament! Shock, horror! Check out the book, or film, and you'll see why.

In recent times more and more people have started wearing this mask too, to show they are against the system, and against the establishment. For better or for worse, Guy Fawkes' masks are the symbol of the "Outraged!" movement which is gathering steam worldwide. Will some good come of it? Can anybody shake up the system?

Anyway, this song does not appear in the film, but as this youtube-user shows, it does suit this video clip he's made of the film's highlights.